Chillingham Castle in Northumberland,
a Borders church wedding followed by a reception
in a Northumbrian Castle for Susan Pears and Richard Crabtree.

At Susans parents house,
a tiara poses elegantly in front of a wedding card.

This is a simple picture,
all I have to do is ask the tiara to say 'cheese' and it's done.

Susans mum surveys the scene from a bedroom window.

I should mention at this point that Susan has asked if we can include something like sheep or cows or some other farm animals in her wedding pictures,

Susan grew up on this farm and wants something of the farm in her wedding album.

Susan explained that she'd brought wellies,
so that we can take such a picture . . . .

the white dots in the green field are sheep . .
heaven knows how we are going to catch one and make it pose . . . .

A horse and carriage are laid on to transport Susan and her father to the nearby church.

I nobble a quick picture of the ladies who ride postillion on the carriage,
just in case they are friends.

If they arent - no problem - but at least we have a picture of them

The carriage driver atop his perch,
looking somewhat like a turn of the century Toulouse Lautrec poster for some mad Parisien nightclub.

well . . maybe . ..

A hairdressing incident forces our schedule 30 minutes forwards.

The involvement of farm animals such as sheep in the pictures becomes more and more implausible.

(phew - I didn't fancy rugby tackling a sheep)

I opt for a barn - that's sort of farm-ish

and the additional benefit is that
I can make the pictures look a bit like a fashion shoot.

yippee. a solution. everyones happy.

More barn pictures to the left,
we only had 5 minutes to do this, so I was in a bit of a hurry.

Susan gets her farm pictures,

I get some cool pictures - everyones happy.

To the amusement of my hysterical assistant,
I leap aboard the rear step of the carriage
as it clatters out of the farm towards the roadway.

I hear a yell from my rear . . .

'he's on our step' scream the girls who ride at the rear.

'well bl**dy chuck 'im off then'
yells the jolly carriage driver.

I jump off not wishing to have the girls walk to the church.

Ligtning photography at the church,

groom to the right,
best man to the left,

quick picture then run off and do something else . . .

The minister tells me that photography during the service is not allowed.

He then makes an announcement to the guests,

'no photography during the service'
he mentions that even the professional photographer
'wont be using his cameras'

he says this as if he gave me a choice. . . .

a happy sort of chap . . . .

We are allowed back in to the church to take a few pictures.

we make this a very quick thing as guests are waiting outside.

An amazing vault houses the altar
in this beautiful borders church.

I run like a maniac in order to

a) keep up with the carriage

b) keep on taking pictures of the carraige

c) get pictures of the carriage arriving at the castle

I'd been asked to get a big group shot of all of the guests,

I'd planned to do this later on - perhaps in the garden.

Hey ho - everyone was assembled at the front door
ready to receive Susan and Richard.

I take the picture there and then, impromptu,
why harrass the guests in order to get a planned picture
when they have done an excellent job of assembling themselves !

Ah - Susan required some arty shots,

I have no other name for this sort of picture.

I like art,

and I think that this is art.

anyhow - we made several of these pictures,

for the simple reason that Susan wanted some,
and also - I like to do this sort of thing . . . .

I think that in this pose - she looks like a fashion model !

There's no escape from the arty shots,

I have a penchant for grotty old stonework
that's been there for hundreds of years.

I hope that Susan has similar tastes . . .

Wow . . this setting certainly lends itself to this sort of thing.

I think that I like Chillingham more and more each time I look at the place.

The way things are . .

Chillingham only has a certain capacity,

wedding parties of a certain size simply have to use a marquee on the lawn.

I get bored during the meal and go off trying to make pictures of spouting fountains,
marquees and castles etc,
just to fill in the time until I can make pictures
for Susan and Richard again.

After the meal, guests spill out from the marquee into the garden.

Richard sways toward me and says,

take a picture of my friends.

certainly . . . look this way . . . done . . .

The ladies occupy the steps
and drag the unwilling guys into a sort of kissing orgy.

well - sort of unwilling.

well - not really that unwilling really . . . .

well - its the kind of thing that girls do . .

I find it necessary to make Susan look like a dramatic princess again.

I just have to do this every so often.

I dont' think that the final picture in this series needs a caption.

so you'll have to make do with this.

click the logo above to go to Chillingham Castles website